Words By: Daniel Birkhofer
There are certainly some people among us who have broken or damaged their phones by dropping it on solid ground or into water. Sometimes you don’t even need to be in a “hazardous” outdoor environment to do so. I have personally had such an experience when I spilled some lemonade on my phone, which resulted in a ruined motherboard that had to be replaced at quite a hefty cost. When outdoors, I usually protect my phone with a waterproof bag. It keeps the phone safe, but make accessibility very difficult.
LifeProof is on a mission to give users of smartphones or other devices the opportunity to fully utilise and enjoy their gadgets in an outdoor and indoor environment, without the risk of damage. Their focus is on protecting your electronics from four forces: dirt, water, shock and snow. The latter which is not of much interest to us here in the Middle East, but dust and humidity, which we experience daily, create a bad environment for your phone. LifeProof will protect your phone from all these forces with a super light and easy to install case. There are two options to choose from. One with an open touch screen, The Nuud, which we tested, as well as another fully encasing cover for your phone namely, The Fre.
Source: www.lifeproof.com
The Nuud can be sealed around your phone’s screen so that you can touch the actual screen. It is waterproof for up to two meters and shock resistant to a height of two meters as well. The case is super light with a weight of only 41g and adds only millimeters to the phone, so the difference in size is minimal. It will have full functionality even when plugging in your phone through a specially sealed adapter cable, thus maintaining the water resistance capability. You get easy protection without loss of any properties and functions of the phone.
Since Nuud doesn’t fully encase the phone, it takes some courage to submerge it in water, which is maybe the reason why the case comes with a test frame to check water resistance first. During our test, the case was waterproof and sealed perfectly. But you should always check the seals for sand particles before closing it to ensure they are secured properly. The only downside of the case is that the sound of the loudspeaker is not as good as without it. The camera works great and the case even enables you to take underwater videos or pictures.
Additional accessories are also available for your phone to be even more enjoyable and more importantly, safer when used outdoors.
Nuud is priced at 529 AED for iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S4. Fre is priced at 399 AED for iPhone and 449 AED for Samsung Galaxy S4.
For more info, check out www.lifeproof.com. The LifeProof Waterproof Phone Case is available at Go Sport (UAE) The Dubai Mall and Bawabat Al Sharq Mall; (Qatar) City Centre Doha and Villaggio Mall.
